Idaho pastor defends church members held in Haiti

* American citizen Laura Silsby, 40, of Boise, Idaho, right, speaks as Nicole Lankford, 18, of Middleton, Idaho, left, and Carla Thompson, 53, of Meridien, Idaho, center, look on during an interview with the Associated Press at police headquarters at the international airport in Port-au-Prince, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010. Ten Americans were detained by Haitian police on Saturday as they tried to bus 33 children across the border into the Dominican Republic, allegedly without proper documents. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
— AP

* American citizen Laura Silsby, 40, of Boise, Idaho, right, speaks as Nicole Lankford, 18, of Middleton, Idaho, left, and Carla Thompson, 53, of Meridien, Idaho, center, look on during an interview with the Associated Press at police headquarters at the international airport in Port-au-Prince, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010. Ten Americans were detained by Haitian police on Saturday as they tried to bus 33 children across the border into the Dominican Republic, allegedly without proper documents. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
/ AP

She said the children were brought to the Haitian pastor by distant relatives and only those with no close family would be put up for adoption.

The 10 Americans include members of the Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho, and the East Side Baptist Church in Twin Falls, Idaho. Friends and relatives have been in touch with them through text messages and phone calls, Lankford said.

The group had described its plans on a Web site where it asked for tax-deductible contributions to help it "gather" 100 orphans and bus them to Cabarete before building a more permanent orphanage in the Dominican town of Magante.

"Given the urgent needs from this earthquake, God has laid upon our hearts the need to go now versus waiting until the permanent facility is built," the group wrote.